Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

France discreetly delivers arms to Israel despite calls for embargo

- 5:45 pm
Port of Marseille (By Rama - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 en)

Port of Marseille (By Rama - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 en)

An Israeli cargo ship is due to pick up 14 tonnes of machine-gun parts from the port of Fos-sur-Mer, near Marseille, on Thursday, reveals the investigative media Disclose. This delivery comes at a time when UN experts are calling for a halt to arms sales to Israel because of the risk of genocide in Gaza.

Secret cargo bound for Haifa

The ship Contship Era, belonging to the Israeli company Zim, is due to arrive in the port of Fos-sur-Mer at 6 a.m. on Thursday June 5. Its mission: to load 19 pallets containing 14 tons of spare parts for machine guns, before setting out again that same evening for Italy and Haifa, Israel.

These components, known as links, are manufactured in Marseille by the French company Eurolinks. They are used to link automatic weapon bullets and were ordered by Israel Military Industries (IMI), a subsidiary of arms giant Elbit Systems, which describes itself as “the exclusive supplier to the Israeli defense forces”.

Three shipments since the beginning of the year

This delivery marks the third such shipment between France and Israel since January 2025. On April 3, nearly 20 tonnes of goods had already been shipped to IMI. On May 22, two million links were shipped to Israel, including one million M9s for heavy weapons and one million M27s compatible with the Negev 5 machine gun used by the Israeli army in Gaza.

The latter weapon was notably used in the “flour massacre” of February 29, 2024, when over a hundred Palestinian civilians were killed near a humanitarian convoy.

Dockers refuse to load the goods

In response to these revelations, the CGT union of Fos-sur-Mer dockworkers announced that the Eurolinks container had been “set aside” and that they would not be loading it onto the ship. “The dockers and port workers of the Gulf of Fos will not take part in the ongoing genocide orchestrated by the Israeli government”, their statement said.

Contradictory versions from the French government

These deliveries are taking place against a backdrop of controversy over French arms exports to Israel. In March 2024, after the first revelations about these shipments, Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu had assured that the links were intended for “re-export” to other countries. Eight months later, he changed his story, asserting that the components would be “assembled in Israel” before returning to France.

The conflict in Gaza has claimed more than 50,000 lives according to Palestinian sources, including 15,000 children according to UNICEF. UN experts are calling for a halt to arms deliveries to Israel because of the risk of genocide of the Palestinians.

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